


Fire Dance

by vayleen



Series: Puzzling Pieces [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-10-09
Updated: 2008-10-09
Packaged: 2017-12-08 19:44:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/765277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vayleen/pseuds/vayleen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Celebrate the summer, celebrate the fire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fire Dance

It wasn’t that Sokka didn’t appreciate the opportunity to leave the South Pole in the middle of the year, when it was so cold. But going to the Fire Nation during the height of their summer wasn’t the best alternative in his mind.

“Why didn't we take this little vacation elsewhere, like Gaoling? I’ll bet it's lovely this time of year,” he complained.

He tried to take a drink from his water skin, and found it empty, though he did stick out his tongue to get the last drop.

Katara hit him square in the back with the flat of her hand, making him choke. “Zuko wanted us to visit during the Summer Solstice specifically,” she reminded him. “Besides, we’ve never been here before.”

“Back home, it is technically the _Winter_ Solstice-” Sokka whined quietly.

His sister glared at him. “This is a big opportunity. Not very many people outside the Fire Nation get one like this. In fact, many people in the Fire Nation don't either-”

Sokka shrugged noncommittally. After traveling around the world, seeing one civilization’s old stone building was like seeing them all. But he could admit to himself that the Sun Warrior Tribes were cool in there own unique way, if only because he was fascinated with the mechanics of all the traps.

Avatar Aang had insisted that the Sun Warriors be given a place in the new world, that the Fire Nation needed their philosophy if there was going to be balance in the world. So they had willingly, albeit cautiously, started letting people travel there to learn about the true ways of Fire.

Katara, Toph and Sokka were the first “outsiders” to visit the tribe by invitation. Katara was excited about seeing the spiritual place where the first fire burned eternal, Toph was far more fascinated by the stone city, and Sokka... those things didn’t interest him so much. He had a more selfish reason for finally agreeing to go, even if he pretended reluctance. 

“Look alive, Snoozles, your girlfriend is about thirty feet yonder!” Toph came up behind him, and clamped him hard on the shoulder. Sokka winced. 

Then she looked thoughtful. “She might be busy though,” she continued, giving his shoulder a squeeze. At seventeen, Toph was a lanky teen, as tall as he was, and had a measurable amount of strength in her fingers that she built over the years. It made being one of Toph’s best friends a literal physically painful experience.

“She’s not really my girlfriend,” Sokka muttered, more to himself than anyone.

He hadn’t seen her for over a year. Past experience taught him the hard way that relationships didn’t survive long distances, so Sokka wasn’t going to make any assumptions. If Azula didn’t feel the same way she felt the year before, he was okay with that. Or he would convince himself he was okay with that.

 _Maybe we can be friends,_ Sokka thought, quickly burying every part of himself that exclaimed against the idea. Which was everything except the part trying to be rational.

“Whatever, my featherbrained friend,” Toph said. “Better fix your hair,” she added, pushing him away.

Sokka automatically reached to flatten his hair before he made the connection that a blind woman wouldn’t know whether or not he needed to fix his hair.

He glared at her even though Toph couldn’t see it.

* * *

Azula sat in the meditation circle in front of the sacred fire. She insisted on taking a shift holding the flames and, oddly, no one felt like arguing.

She smirked when the flames occasionally flickered blue as she connected her energy to the fire’s energy. The older woman next to her smiled and shook her head.

Everyone was so easy going and good-natured there. Azula almost entertained the thought of not going back to the palace with Ursa, Zuko and Mai. She could stay there, be half-naked all her life, worshipping dragons and such, hunting jack rabbit-boars and eating meat right off the bone.

But really, it wasn’t what she wanted. Azula just didn’t want to go back to a palace that felt less and less like home. Her family was there, but her father’s spirit haunted her in every dark corner. She just wanted something different, somewhere she could be more herself, free of any physical manifestation of Ozai’s memory.

Her past didn’t consume her, like it once did, but she’d prefer to be apart from it. Away from the woman who would once do anything for power.

Being afraid of her past was what kept her sick, kept her bending weak, so she overcame it. But last year during the solstice she faced Ran and Shao. And was certain she was going to die.

But she didn’t.

Instead she learned something about herself.

Azula shook off the memories, concentrating on her breathing, on clearing her mind, and feeling the flickering heartbeat of the flames.

* * *

The sun was close to setting when Azula broke out of her trance. The woman next to her was smiling at her, this time much more cheekily.

“You missed the feast,” she said, “so you must have really needed this. But the Fire Dance is starting soon and I wouldn’t want you to miss it.” The woman shifted her eyes to the side, looking pointedly behind them.

Azula followed her direction and looked. When she saw who was sitting patiently behind her several feet off, she immediately turned back to the fire.

The flames ruptured blue before settling back down to their normal color.

Azula broke of her connection to the eternal flame and tried to settle her heartbeat, ignoring the chuckles around the circle.

 _So much for being subtle,_ she thought, putting her face into her hands. She would rather the handsome young man behind her be oblivious to the effect the site of him had on her, but unfortunately he wasn’t an idiot.

It wasn’t like he completely broke contact. He wrote to her once on her birthday and once for the winter solstice, and they were sweet letters with goofy illustrations, but it had still been awhile. And she wore that stupid braided string for months before it frayed completely and fell off. But she was an intelligent woman, and thought it was foolish to hope he still loved her.

Azula wasn’t going to avoid him though.

She hid a smile when he stumbled up at her approach. “I, uh, I brought you some food,” Sokka offered, voice faltering a little as he handed her the wrapped fruit and bread.

Azula took it from him and nibbled on a citrus segment. “How long were you waiting there?” she asked curiously.

“Oh, not long at all,” Sokka answered with a wave of his hand. “Just an hour... or two... and a half.”

She felt shy. Why did she feel shy?

“Hi, by the way,” he said. His face relaxed into a smile as she looked up at him, eating the food he brought her.

“Hello, Sokka,” she said, returning his greeting.

Sokka’s face changed when she said his name before he was looking away again. Azula suppressed a shudder. It was an intense look, in that instant.

“So, what’s a ‘Fire Dance’?” Sokka asked when the silence went on too long.

“It’s a ritual bonfire dance that lasts from sunset to sunrise. So about five hours, I suppose, since it’s the shortest night of the year.”

They were walking towards the settlement outskirts where Azula could already see the flames of the giant bonfire over the walls, beginning to lick the sky. She took a bite out of the grainy roll Sokka had brought her, and looked over at him with the corner of her eye. He was looking away from her, up in the sky where the flames were flickering, growing brighter as the sky darkened.

“You should probably take your shirt off,” Azula commented.

Sokka’s head jerked back over to her. Azula wanted to kick herself as he narrowed his eyes and gave her a sly smile.

“I just meant that it’s going to be really hot once we get there. It is a giant bonfire in the middle of the summer after all. I wouldn’t want you to faint because your body is acclimated to ridiculous amount of cold-,” Azula explained, turning her nose up and looking pointedly away as his smile grew into a grin.

“Azula, if you want me to take off my clothes, you just need to say so. Just say ‘Sokka, take off that ugly shirt now’ and I will do as you command,” Sokka interrupted.

She took another bite of the roll before she did something insipid, like giggle. But she did smile back.

* * *

It _was_ pretty hot.

And loud, he thought, hearing the various drum beats.

Sokka unfastened the sash that held his shirt closed and, not knowing what to do with it, just let it hang open. He suddenly wished he did more than one hundred sit ups in the morning. Like one hundred and fifty. Maybe even two hundred.

“I’ll be back later,” Azula said, turning to smile at him.

“Sure, okay,” he answered, nodding, surprised and a little forlorn that she was leaving. But _she_ wasn’t going to know that.

He wistfully thought she was about to hug him but instead she just handed him his now empty cloth and headed away.

The easy, intimate banter earlier did a lot to help his nerves about seeing her. But he felt himself growing apprehensive again when she left, going over their conversation for anything that might clue him in on the answers he really wanted to ask for. How did she feel about him now?

Irrationally glum, Sokka walked towards the drummers where earlier he saw Toph enthusiastically beating away on her own make-shift drum.

“‘Lo, Snoozles. I almost didn’t see you coming, everything is so loud with all this movement.” She grinned over at him. “This is the best party ever!”

Sokka dropped down next to her. “I’m glad your having fun, Toph,” he said.

“Why do you sound so down?” Toph’s smile grew wicked. “Where’s your girlfriend, big guy?”

“Shouldn't you be concentrating on these complicated drum beats or something?” Sokka asked, irritably.

“Phoof,” Toph said, turning back to the earth. “You’re no fun. It’s a party, Sokka, live a little. Go bonfire dance.”

“I don’t know the steps.”

“Monkey feathers, Sokka, that would have _never_ stopped you before,” Toph said, exasperated. “I know the real reason why you’re being a featherhead, but I won’t press it... for now. Just don’t spoil the fun for the rest of us.

“They’re not really dancing so much as using drum beats to firebend too. To keep the bonfire going.”

“Well, I can’t do that either,” Sokka said.

“Neither can Katara and she’s over there with Aang and Zuko somewhere. I’d tell you but I can’t see them with everyone else moving around like crazy people.”

Sokka looked over at the fire, seeing if he could pick out his sister among them. Her dark skin and pale clothing stood out among the circling dancers.

It did look like fun.

The flames flickered blue towards the other side of the fire. Sokka turned that way and saw Azula had joined the circle, going in the opposite direction Katara was. Sokka watched her dance, watched as the two women crossed paths and joined hands, circling around each other for several beats before moving on.

The flames, the drums, were getting to him. Sokka slid his shirt off his shoulders. All the beats of the music, it was like hundreds of heartbeats, like all the people sitting around the fire, playing the drums, dancing. He felt the heat of his blood pulse to the rhythm of the drums, like a river flowing.

Sokka started unlacing his boots as he watched Azula. There was nothing inappropriate about the way she was dancing, but there was something blatant about it, like she was channeling her strength into the movement.

Before she could disappear from his line of site, Sokka was running barefoot through the circle of dancers trying to catch up to her.

Spirits, that fire was _hot._

He caught up to her. The firelight illuminated the way her muscles moved on her bare arms and legs. Sokka was hopelessly hypnotized by it, but stopped moving towards her when she turned and saw him.

The flames next to them flared blue.

Sokka smiled. “Sorry I surprised you... _again_.” He walked closer to her, noticing she didn’t move away. Just crossed her arms and smirked at him.

“Did you miss me?” Azula asked teasingly.

He walked towards her until they were very close. She didn’t move away, but she jumped when he cupped her head with his hand and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Yes, I missed you.”

She closed her eyes. He knew she was smart enough not to miss the double meaning.

“Are you going to teach me the Fire Dance?” he asked her, moving so that their foreheads touched.

Azula was breathing quickly. She swallowed her unsettled breath and opened her eyes. “It’s a firebending dance,” she said. “It’s about inner power and energy. From the sun above and the heat within the earth.” She placed a hand on his chest, over his heart. “And within the body.”

Sokka tensed when she touched him. He knew Azula could feel how hard his heart was beating, and wondered if she felt the same pulse of the drums he did, felt the river flowing.

The fire was very, very hot.

“Azula,” he whispered.

“The flames are like your heart beating, Sokka. Move to the rhythm you feel,” she said, stepping away from him to start the dance.

He followed her movements. They never actually made contact, didn't even clasp hands, but they were still in sync as they circled each other. Limbs, hips, eyes. She didn’t look away from him once as they danced. Her amber eyes were molten. Sokka was afraid that if any part of her skin touched him again, he would blister, he felt so hot.

Sokka wasn’t sure how many times they had circled the fire. His vision was blurring, all he could focus on was her. Azula took his hand. He spun her into him, felt her calf wrap around the back of his leg. Her face was so close. He placed his hand on her neck, felt her pulse there, just like the river in him.

Azula kissed him. Although gentle in nature, Sokka could feel the strength of her from the kiss. Her skin was scorchingly warm. It was making him disoriented.

Sokka’s knees buckled.

“Sokka?”

He barely registered her voice. Azula was lifting his arm around her shoulders, taking him away from the fire. He tried to stand. Why were his legs not working?

“You idiot, you’re overheated. Didn’t you drink any water?” she demanded, setting him down away from the fire, where people were sitting in a circle. She grabbed a water skin.

How did he get here?

“What’s wrong with him?”

Katara?

“The stupid boy is dehydrated and almost fainted into a roaring fire,” Azula said.

“Baby, that was all you,” Sokka mumbled, turning towards the direction of her voice and smiling up at her.

Azula poured water onto his face.

Sokka sputtered.

Actually, he did feel a little faint. All that moving in a circle must have made him dizzy.

“If I pass out, will you still be here?” he asked her.

“If you pass out,” Azula said, leaning over him, “I’ll never let you live it down.”

“Shoot,” he mumbled. “Just wait until next time you visit me, I’ll throw you into another pile of snow.”

“You can try,” she said.

Sokka smiled. He really did miss her. He hoped he didn’t pass out for long.

He fell asleep, feeling her fingers running through his hair.


End file.
